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Quoting Matt Webb

Simon Willison · Aug 21, 2026 · Engineering Insights

Developer used ChatGPT as interactive tutor to learn quaternions, not to write code

“So learning doesn't stop just because I outsource a bunch of thinking to AI. It pushes me to learn more.”

Matt Webb describes using ChatGPT as a patient interactive tutor to finally grasp quaternion math for his app, after books and expert friends failed to help. He frames AI not as a replacement for learning but as an accelerant that pushed him to learn more. This is a grounded, personal anecdote illustrating AI-augmented skill acquisition rather than skill replacement.

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